Top 10 Smartphones – 2016

2016 has been a year of innovations with many smartphone manufacturers pushing the boundaries while others failed to gain the spotlight. In the following article, we will be reviewing the top 10 smartphones of 2016. Beginning in a descending order, the list goes

Google has undoubtedly brought their best foot forward by creating the new Pixel lineup. The phone has been designed entirely by Google and is the only phone in our list where Android shines without any gimmicky manufacturer setup. Even though Pixel has a lot to love, however, Google did cut down at various spots which reduced our rating for the device. Despite all of that, Google’s Pixel is still the best Android phone.

S7 Edge, the larger of the two phones is bestowed with a beautiful curved design that makes it pleasing to hold and beautiful to look at. The edge display is an added bonus and maximizes screen real estate in a manner that is comfortable to the hands. Under the hood, the device is identical to the S7 except in terms of battery.

The larger variant of the iPhone 7 is the best iPhone in the market. Coupled with two rear cameras, the phone allows for exceptional photography. Furthermore, there is additional RAM and battery which would give the phone a considerable advantage over its smaller counterpart.

Apple decided to brush up their phones by giving minute cosmetic touchups in the designing department. It would not be wrong to say that the only changes made in the iPhone 7 from the iPhone 6 in terms of design are the shifting of antenna bands. However, the new iPhone 7 does come bundled in with additional features that give it a significant advantage over its predecessors.

First up, the phones have received a water resistant rating making them easier to work with. The SoC has also received an incredible bump which would allow for better battery optimization along with significant performance edge on other phones. The phone did lose on the headphone jack but made up for most of the deals by introducing minute changes that resonated well with the Apple audience.

Even though Samsung has received a massive loss from its Note 7 lineup, however in the same year, Samsung’s S-Series performed spectacularly well. The phones are priced reasonably and offer one of the best camera experiences. There are minute occasions where TouchWiz becomes erratic; however, after recent updates, the OS has become quite tame. Endowed with exceptional processing prowess, Samsung’s S7 is not one to be messed with.

ZTE, a relatively new player in the flagship smartphone market came out with all guns blazing and offered a spectacular phone that blends both iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy S phones. The phone offers the best value for money and has high ambitions, promising to be the first phone to be Daydream ready when the platform gets setup. The phone is designed exceptionally well blessing it with a premium look and the Snapdragon processor underneath the hood fails to break even under massive stress.

OnePlus, the company that managed to sway all heads ever since its inception came out with the third flagship killer in 2016 and boy was the phone packed with power. Furthermore, the phone offered a ridiculously good value for money. The company worked hard to do away with all the issues that fans had improving RAM optimization and streamlining the Android system. The design language of the phone has changed considerably and now the phone flashes a completely comfortable premium look.

Motorola, the company that received a change of management as the company was bought off by Lenovo revealed one of their best smartphones of all time in the form of Moto Z. The phone borrows the modular phone idea from LG and implements it in an amiable manner. The add-on can be plugged in by an easy snap.

The phone is the thinnest smartphone on the planet. However, this came at a cost as the phone lost its headphone jack and had a reduction in the battery capacity. However, despite these issues, the phone is tough to compete against because it has received significant upgrades in other departments.

LG has been hard at work. The company has tried to differentiate itself from the rest of the market and in its quest has come up with the idea behind the G5. The phone is equipped with a spectacular camera and the ability to connect various upgradeable modules to bestow your phone with additional capabilities. The design is somewhat questionable; however, LG has definitely set a new trend in the market.

HTC raised the bar for smartphones with the release of its HTC One M8; however, the successor to the device M9 didn’t quite catch the world’s attention leading people to believe that perhaps the golden days of HTC are long gone. But HTC didn’t let that failure define them and instead went back to their drawing boards and designed this amazing phone that has an elegant body, a light but premium feel and has a superb camera. Furthermore, HTC has also embedded an excellent audio system in the device which lets it pump high-quality audio.

Pros

* Elegant Design

* Amazing Audio Quality

Cons

* Camera (despite being better than predecessors is not great enough against the competition)